Whisky saves eyesight of man blinded by vodka

Boozing can give you the beer goggles, or double vision, but for a man in New Zealand a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label restored his sight after he had gone blind.

A 65-year old man from New Plymouth, Taranaki had enjoyed a couple of vodkas to celebrate his parents’ wedding anniversary but found himself unable to see shortly afterwards.

“I thought it had got dark and I’d missed out on a bit of time but it was only about half-past three in the afternoon. I was fumbling around the bedroom for the light switch,” Denis Duthie told the New Zealand Herald.

The next day when his condition had not improved he was taken to hospital where it was discovered that the alcohol he had drunk had reacted with his diabetes medication causing a build up of methanol, which had metabolised into formaldehyde leaving him blind.

The hospital administered ethanol - a bottle of whiskey bought from a nearby shop - to combat this with which they administered straight into Mr Duthie’s stomach.

“I woke up five days later and could see as soon as I could open my eyes,” Mr Duthie added.

He hasn’t touched another drop though since leaving hospital, and has warned other diabetics to “take it easy”.